The Rules
by charredenay
Summary: Nick joins Judy at the ZPD, but the transition to go from con artist to police officer can be a stressful one, and Nick may have picked up a poor choice of coping mechanism as a result. When Judy finds out, she makes it her personal mission to help him get past it.
1. Chapter I

Nick slid down into the chair next to Judy. He didn't smell. He wasn't covering his eyes with his sunglasses. He wasn't even late. In fact, he was perfectly on time, but Judy could tell without even looking at him what he had been up to the night before. She could always tell.

"Late night?" she asked with slightly more irritation than she had intended to convey.

"You know the rules, Carrots. Don't ask any questions you don't wanna know the answer to," he replied nonchalantly.

Judy puffed out her cheeks in frustration and returned her attention to the front of the bullpen.

 _The rules._

It didn't take long after Nick joined the force for her to figure it out, and it had only taken one confrontation to get him to admit it. Nick Wilde was an alcoholic. The admission had come with some conditions, those being the aforementioned "rules" they would both follow. So long as Nick never broke his side of the agreement, there was nothing she could do, but the day he did, she could go straight to Chief Bogo with what she knew.

* * *

Judy squatted on the floor next to Nick's sleeping form, carefully studying his face. She couldn't understand why he was doing this to himself. She had thought he was happy, he hadn't showed any outward signs otherwise, at least not since he had graduated the academy. Now that he had an "actual" job, no, better, a career, there were so many prospects for the future, and by extension, so many reasons for him to be happy.

He was smart and hard-working (even if he would deny it to his dying breath), so he would definitely be promoted to captain in a year or two. He was young and charismatic, so it wouldn't even be out of the question to run for political office since police officers had plenty of opportunity to build rapport with the animals of Zootopia. That was all without even mentioning that he probably had scores of females lining up to date him because of how fit and handsome he was.

 _Then again, if he does, why does he keep coming to my tiny apartment late at night?_

However, Judy found it hard to ignore the evidence presented to her eyes, namely the tight, well-toned evidence showing from beneath his slightly open shirt.

 _He must spend half his free-time at the gym to keep himself looking that good. There are probably a ton of ladies checking him out there at least._

Nick stirred in his sleep, knocking Judy out of her thoughts and she realized that in the stupor of her reverie she had unconsciously begun to reach out to try to touch his chest. She quickly snatched her paw back up to her chest in embarrassment.

 _What am I even doing? Staring at him like this? It's creepy._

Before she could berate herself further, Nick finally opened his eyes.

"Oh, hey. Morning, Carrots. Sorry I came knocking so late again last night," he said with a yawn but his apologetic tone quickly shifted to his usual teasing grin. "Though I am a little sad you made me sleep on the floor again."

"Like I would share the bed with you reeking of booze," Judy said in annoyance.

"So you're saying that if I come over here sober, you'll let me into your bed?"

Judy's ears went red at the suggestion, "That's not - You- I'd- !"

Nick just laughed, not the laugh he used when he was buying time to think of a comeback or when he was nervous, but the deep throaty guffaw he had when he found something genuinely funny, those few moments when Judy could tell he was completely happy, and let down the mask he usually wore.

"Calm down, Carrots. I'm just having fun with yah... Or am I?" He said with another mocking grin. "Either way, though, I'll get out of your fur now. I'm sure you didn't want to waste your whole day off on me."

 _He's in a good mood and he's being honest. I'm probably never going to get a better chance to than this._

"Wait, Nick."

He stopped in his tracks and turned around that smug grin still on his face and Judy felt her heart beat even faster in her chest.

 _Don't lose your nerve now, Judy. This is important._

"Would you mind staying a little longer? I need to talk to you about something," she asked softly.

Nick's expression quickly went from smug to concerned, "No, of course not, Judy. What's the matter?" He answered as he sat on the floor in front of her.

He clearly understood something was wrong. He didn't know what it was, but he was clearly ready to help in any way he could, which was another sign in her favor.

"Nick, you know that I'm your friend and I care about you very much," she began delicately, and Nick's expression instantly soured. He obviously knew where the conversation was headed, worse, he had probably heard it before.

 _Crap, Judy, you're losing him. Planning this out was a mistake. Maybe I can at least keep him in an open state of mind._

"You've come to my apartment late at night three nights this month and every time, you've been completely drunk," she improvised, and his expression softened.

 _Better._

"Which is why, I think you may have… just a… tiny bit of a drinking problem," she said, bringing her fingers up to indicate something small and she instantly regretted it.

His mood went right back to sour, but this time it almost seemed, sad? Disappointed? But it was only there a moment before she saw him put his smug mask back on.

 _Oh, no. Please, Nick, don't do that. Don't do what I think you're going to do._

"Is that what you think? Just a tiny bit of a drinking problem?" He asked, standing up.

Not knowing where he was taking the conversation next Judy could only be honest and hope for the best.

"Yes?"

"Well then, I guess you should be just a tiny bit worried about it," he said with a grin as he turned to leave. "I'll talk to yah later, Carrots."

Judy's emotions were thrown into turmoil. A storm brewed in her mind, in the short time before he reached the door. She was just a little happy that he wasn't angry at her, but she was also sad, because she had genuinely wanted to help Nick overcome this, but the feeling that won out over the others in a landslide was anger, anger that he could so easily put his facade back on and crack jokes at her expense when she was only trying to help him.

"You know what, Nick? No. I was trying to be gentle about this, but if you walk out that door without us having this out, I'll… I'll… I will go straight to Chief Bogo today, and tell him to get me a new partner," she said threateningly.

His head ducked as he froze in place then slowly turned around. He looked hurt, as if she just slapped him across the face and it broke her heart to see it.

"Would you… Would you really do that to me, Judy?" He asked clutching his tie at the chest.

 _It's tough love, Judy. Tough love._

"Y-Yes, Nick. I would."

Another choice she would regret, as it only served to make him angry.

"You would quit being my partner, just because I came over to your place wasted _a couple times_?" He snarled, taking a step forward,"Is that how little I mean to you?"

Judy's anger quickly fell as she came to a realization.

 _I wouldn't be able to do it. I would probably get halfway into the precinct only to go cry my eyes out in the bathroom, and never mention it to him again. I'd act as if nothing happened, but that would only make things worse._

"I… I don't know," her ears fell below her head as she lied, but it was only a little bit a lie. "I don't know if I could. Quit being your partner, just like that."

Nick deflated in front of her, seemingly sympathizing with her predicament. Judy looked to the floor shuffling her feet and twiddling with her paws as she continued.

"But I can't just let this go. You're well on your way to hurting yourself. Either by alcohol poisoning or some accident when you're drunk," she couldn't help but give a sad laugh. "Probably when you're walking your way here."

Nick groaned causing Judy to look back up at him. He was dragging his paw down his eyes and muzzle and she could've sworn he heard him mumble something about "meddling rabbits" before turning to look her in the eyes.

"Alright, alright, alright. Gimme your pen recorder, I know you've bought a new one," he said.

Once more, Judy had no idea where he was going with the conversation, but he was being honest again, so she quickly pulled it from her desk drawer and complied.

Pressing the record button, he spoke into it at a conversational volume, clearly annunciating every syllable, "I, Nicholas Piberius Wilde, officer of the ZPD, hereby admit, of my own free will, that I am an alcoholic."

Turning off the recorder, he looked solemnly down at Judy and sighed. He gently shook the recorder in his paw, staring at it, thinking about what, Judy couldn't say. Finally, he presented it to her with his usual air of nonchalance.

 _What is this?_

"Judy, I'm going to give this to you, to use as 'evidence', to make it easier for you convince Bogo, or Clawhauser, or whoever to help you stage an intervention for me, if and when my drinking becomes a real problem, but- " he said sternly, pulling the record away again. "I'm trusting you to not use it until absolutely necessary. In exchange, I'll do my best to curb my drinking _without_ you trying to stick me in rehab or something. Okay?"

Judy smiled in understanding as she accepted the pen. It wasn't enough to _force_ him to quit drinking, but the recording would be enough to make his work life impossibly difficult if he didn't. "Thank you, Nick."

 _Well, it's not exactly what I was hoping for, but it's a start._

"I'm glad you're happy with this, but there are some rules I'm gonna need you to follow," he said with a grin.

* * *

 **Author's note:**

 **I came back to this chapter to do some editing and I noticed it was still getting new traffic so I want to tell new readers to f** **eel free to leave a review. I've got a pretty thick skin so don't worry too much about upsetting me.**


	2. Chapter II

Since that day three months ago, Nick hadn't paid her any more late night visits and surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, that had only made her worry more. Judy gave another little huff of irritation as she peered over her steering wheel, looking for any signs of disturbances or crime. Before, she at least could be content with the fact that he made it to her apartment safely. Now she had no idea where he was until the next morning.

 _Damn you, Nicholas Wilde, and damn your stupid rules._

At the time, "the rules" had given her peace of mind since they gave her a lot of conditions under which she could use the recording: if Nick came over late at night two or more times, if he came to work drunk even once, if he was ever late to work three times or more, if he smelled of booze at work three times or more, etc. It was a very long list, and should any single one of them occur, Nick had promised to never resent her or be angry at her for using the recording.

However, there were also rules that prevented her from talking about the problem more and trying to fix it: she could only discuss it when Nick was completely sober and not hungover, she couldn't say anything about it in front of anyone else unless he had broken one of the other rules, she couldn't ask questions about it to try to wheedle him into quitting, etc. This was also a really long list.

No doubt Nick had done that on purpose in the hopes that she might forget what was a rule and what wasn't. Which is why she took quite a bit of satisfaction in the surprised look on his face when she produced a second carrot recorder pen from her desk and made him start the whole list of rules over, just so she could record every single one.

Of course, that had probably just made him come up with even more on the fly, just to cover his bases, but she had found it hard to hold it against him when he had arrived at his final two rules.

* * *

"Alright, alright, Carrots. Just two more, I promise," Nick said with a grin.

"Fine, but only two more," she warned. "Well, what are they?"

"No more threats like the one you made today," he said, a little defensively. "You can't quit being my partner over this, ever."

Before she could interrupt to tell him how unfair that was he continued, looking away with a bit of a blush, "And also you have to promise that you'll never give up... on me."

Another big smile broke over her face, "I promise."

* * *

#######

Judy couldn't help but beam at the memory, but it quickly turned back into a frown, because it made it abundantly clear that no matter how much Nick struggled against her ministrations or hid behind "the rules", he really was counting on her to keep pushing no matter what.

Before Judy could ruminate on the issue further Chief Bogo entered the bullpen amidst a cacophony of whooping, table smacking, and a single howl.

"Right, alright," he said, quickly quieting the officers present. "Assignments."

"Wolford. Snarlov. Undercover in Tundratown," the respective officers stood and walked forward to receive the red folders with their assignments.

Everything progressed as a typical morning until he neared the end of the list.

"Delgato. Wilde," he said, looking up from his list for just a moment before frowning and saying, "I'm sorry, my mistake. Delgato and Rhinavitz. Vandalism watch in Rainforest district. Hopps and Wilde, you've got patrol through Downtown today. We've heard of some gang activity so keep an ear and an eye out, respectively," Bogo finished with a short chuckle at his own joke.

Confused, Judy looked up at Nick. For a split second, she thought she had caught him _glaring_ at Bogo but his smug grin quickly returned as he slipped off the chair and strolled out the door.

"What was that about?" Judy asked as she caught up to him in the hallway.

"Sorry, Carrots. I couldn't tell yah."

She would've pressed the issue further, but as she hopped into their patrol car she realized she had more important things to worry about, namely the fox getting into the passenger seat. She wasn't worried about hangovers affecting his duties, he always seemed to power through them with uncharacteristic discipline, but if Judy had her way, she would be discussing the "issue" right now, while Nick was at his most vulnerable.

 _But that would be against "the rules"._

The surprisingly mocking tone of her thoughts would've made her chuckle to herself if she wasn't feeling so bitter.

Judy let out a little sigh as she buckled in and shifted the car into gear. It wouldn't be right to let this problem to impede her work any further than she had already allowed it, especially since Nick was doing such a good job of maintaining an air of professionalism.

 _An annoyingly good job of it._

It was annoying, since before this situation had become the norm, he had barely tiptoed the line of professionalism, with his constant air of smug slyness, his trading of witty barbs, and even his unnecessary physical contact. His actions had never reached the point of making Judy uncomfortable before and even served to endear him more to her. Now though, Nick remained silent during their patrols and kept physical contact to a minimum, sometimes even forgoing what some would deem necessary physical contact. Just last week, for example, when Judy asked to use his set of handcuffs. Instead of walking over and putting them in her paw with that damned grin on his face, he put them on the trunk of the patrol car and slid them to her.

In the logical part of Judy's brain, she knew why. He kept silent while on patrol to stop himself from saying anything that might make him sound drunk. He kept an air of professionalism to be absolutely sure he didn't do anything that might make him seem even slightly drunk. He kept his distance just in case he still smelled like booze. It was all extremely careful and well thought out, but…

"It's not sly at all," Judy thought aloud.

"What's that, Carrots?" Nick asked.

Judy knew he might hate her for this. She knew it was against "the rules". She knew that what she was thinking about doing was a stupid gamble that might ruin her friendship with Nick, let alone her chances at pulling him out of this habit, but...

 _Damn you, Nicholas Wilde, and damn your stupid rules._

She turned into an alley, threw the car into park, and flipped off the radio.

"It's not sly at all," she repeated.

"What's not sly at all?" Nick asked even more surprised by the sudden seriousness of the situation.

"This," she said, indicating Nick with open palms. "This whole act of yours lately. It has no guile, no artfulness, and it isn't sly at all."

Nick opened his mouth, no doubt still too confused to contribute anything meaningful to the discussion but Judy ignored him and continued.

"The silence, the professionalism, the physical distance between us... YOU... You're trying your hardest to be able to keep drinking as much as you want, which is admittedly a little upsetting, but I might've even been able to forgive you, if you weren't so... damn... obvious," she finished pointing a finger at him venomously.

"I thought we weren't going to talk about this when I'm hungover," he said, pulling his aviators down with a frown.

"We wouldn't be if you weren't so inept, so transparent, so… so…" Judy struggled to find a powerful and articulate insult, but instead settled for one that struck at the heart of his vanity. "So **un-Nick**."

Even behind his sunglasses, Judy could see both his eyebrows raise and the fur on his neck stand on end.

"And how un-Nick of me would it be to take away that precious recording because you broke the rules?" he asked threateningly.

#######

"Oh? You mean the one that I now have hidden away in my new apartment? The apartment that you haven't even seen the inside of, let alone where I hid the pen?"

Nick's eyes narrowed in anger, "You promised you'd follow the rules, I trusted you."

"To be fair, you also made me promise to never give up on you."

His expression softened into one of exhaustion, "I suppose I did."

The fox threw his arms into the air in frustrated resignation, "Alright, alright. I know when I'm beat. The con has been out-conned. Let's talk."

Judy sighed in relief and smiled, but her heartbeat picked up again soon after.

You've gotten this far, but you're not out of the woods yet. Don't mess it up now.

"I want you to give up drinking. Cold turkey," Judy said with fake confidence.

"No," he answered quickly, and Judy's face fell in despair.

"What? But I- What happened to being out-conned?" she said with indignation.

"That doesn't mean I'm going to just go along with any old idea, Carrots," he said calmly. "Consider this a negotiation. Negotiate."

"Fine, but how much you're drinking is my main issue, so I need a way to be absolutely sure you'll tone it down," she said with a pout.

"I think I may have a solution for that," he replied, now smirking. Judy didn't like the look of that smirk, not one bit.

* * *

Author's note:

That's Chapter 2 done. I might come back and edit some more later but for the most part I'll leave it alone. Thanks to everyone following the story. I actually didn't expect it to be this long. I was thinking I'd be done after 3000 words but now it's looking like I might have a much longer story here. Anyways, feel free to leave a review, and don't worry about being too harsh, I can take it.


	3. Chapter III

Judy had just finished cleaning her kitchen when she heard a knock at her door that she hoped signaled Nick's arrival. She did one last quick lap around the apartment before answering the door, just to make sure she hadn't left any messes lying around.

"Uh, Judy?" she heard Nick call nervously. "Could you hurry up and open the door?"

"Just a minute," she called back as she discovered a pair of carrot-print panties she had accidentally left next her sofa. Thinking fast, she stuffed them in her back pocket and ran to the front door.

Opening it, she found Nick turned away from her door and out towards the hallway. On the floor to his left was a large suitcase that drew Judy's curiosity for only a moment before she looked around him to see what had drawn his attention away from her door. Apparently, he had been cornered by her elderly beaver neighbors, the Woodsmans, who were now arguing with him.

"-So listen here, mister hotshot Caracal," Mr. Woodsman lisped, full of false bravado. "I don't know exactly what your intentions are towards Officer Hopps-"

"Honey, I don't think he's a Caracal, he's too tall," Mrs. Woodsman said.

"Eh? Serval then, who cares what species he is?" Mr. Woodsman shot back.

"Don't be mean, dear."

Or maybe they were arguing _at_ him? None of them seemed to have noticed Judy opening the door. Knowing that Nick wasn't in any real danger, she opted to leave them in the dark and let the near-sighted couple continue their discussion.

"Alright, fine. We'll ask him, then," Mr. Woodsman said before turning back to Nick. "What species are you, sonny?"

"I'm actually a fox, sir," Nick said in a helpful tone.

"Fox? No, no, that can't be right. Far too exotic," Mr. Woodsman replied. "Well, whatever you actually are, you better watch your step, sonny! I won't tolerate misbehavior!"

Now this conversation was starting to turn towards uncomfortable territory, and Judy could only imagine how bad it must be for Nick.

"Um. Actually Mr. Woodsman," she interjected. " _Officer_ Wilde here is a close friend of mine who wouldn't hurt a fly, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't treat every _friend_ that comes to visit as if he was going to go savage and eat me."

The relief on Nick's face was palpable, but Mr. Woodsman didn't look even the least bit mortified. In fact, he just looked confused.

"Eh? Eat you? Is that some sort of euphemism?" He asked quickly.

"Oh. Oh, my," Mrs. Woodsman added with a blush.

"Don't get all embarrassed now, Bertha. I have a scolding to finish," he said before turning back to Nick. "As I was saying, I don't care if it's this 'eating' she's talking about, 'spanking the monkey' or 'going all the way' as kids call it nowadays. No means no. And if the lady wants a ring first, by gum, you wait, understand?"

Completely flabbergasted, Nick simply said, "Yes, sir."

"Good," Mr. Woodsman said before turning towards their apartment and walking away, grumbling about 'whippersnappers' and 'sexual liberation'.

Mrs. Woodsman opted to merely wink at Judy and follow after him.

Just as awkward silence began to settle in Nick grinned and asked, "Shall we go inside, so I can 'eat' you?"

* * *

As Nick dragged his suitcase through her front door, Judy began to feel a little apprehensive. He had been suspiciously secretive about what exactly his 'solution' entailed and initially she had been happy to just go along with it because he had mentioned that he would finally be visiting her at her new apartment, but almost immediately after she had begun to have second thoughts. In any other situation, she might have just kept those thoughts to herself but-

"Before you tell me your plan, I wanted to let you know that I seriously entertained the possibility that this might be some sort of trick to find and steal the recording," she said plainly and confidently.

"Carrots, I-," Nick began with a frown but she stopped him.

"I also entertained the idea of copying the recording multiple times and hiding the copies all over the apartment, just in case," she continued, taking satisfaction in the surprised look on Nick's face but forced that emotion down in favor of sincerity.

"I put this possibility aside because I know you, I trust you, and I know that you are stronger than alcohol," Judy could feel herself start to ramble, but the words just seemed to pour out of her mouth. "but I had to tell you that I considered it, _because_ I know you."

Her eyes began to sting as she continued, "I know that you're brilliant and witty and charming and clever and add in the fact that I trust you and it becomes obvious that you probably already know exactly how to trick me into just giving it you and I-" she stopped as she felt something soft on her face.

Looking up, she found Nick caressing her cheek. Gently, he wiped away a single tear with his thumb.

"You dumb bunny..." he said in that way that Judy found both mean and endearing at the same time and was so soothing that she couldn't help but lean into his paw and smile.

Then he grinned that stupid smug grin of his, "It's in your underwear drawer, isn't it?"

Judy's ears quickly went red for the second time that day as she began to stutter, "Wh-What? I- I don't know wh-what you're talking about."

"Really? Then you won't mind if I go and take a look?"

"Of course I would mind, you pervert. It's my underwear drawer!"

"Uh-huh, okay."

"I'm serious! You are completely wrong."

"Sure I am, Carrots," Nick laughed as he turned and walked back towards the door, "Tell you what, I'm going to _coincidentally_ choose this moment to take a five minute walk down the hall and back and I'll just assume I'm wrong when I get back."

"Y-Yeah! You should! You're totally off-base on this one, Wilde!" she half-shouted.

He just chuckled lightly as he turned the knob and strolled out the door. The blushing bunny stared angrily at the door for a moment before stomping off to her bedroom to re-hide the recorder pen.

* * *

 **Author's note:**

 **I just wanted to thank everyone who's following this story, really helps give me confidence to keep working on this. Also f** **eel free to leave a review, I've got a pretty thick skin so don't worry too much about upsetting me.**


	4. Chapter IV

"There. All locked up safe and sound," Nick declared, as he looped the chain Judy had purchased earlier that day through the pair of handles of one of her kitchen cabinets and locked a heavy padlock (also bought that day) through its links. "And the only one who could possibly have a key is?"

"Me," Judy finished with a sigh.

It turned out that the "solution" Nick came up with was almost as bad as his rules. The large suitcase he had dragged into her apartment had been filled with supposedly every bottle of alcohol that he currently owned. She might have been impressed with the collection's wide variety, had the circumstances been different, but then he explained that from then on he would be going through her whenever he wanted a drink, essentially making her his personal bartender.

Judy didn't need to be told how much control this gave her over the situation. He had to come to her apartment to get drunk, so she could make sure he was at least physically safe. She would be mixing his drinks, so she could water them down as much as she liked. Finally, and most importantly, she had the only key, so she could cut him off whenever she wanted, even deny him alcohol outright. However, the proposal still gave her an uneasy feeling in her stomach that she couldn't explain.

 _Maybe it's just nerves._

"And that is all of your alcohol?" she asked with a just a hint of incredulity.

"And all of yours too, Carrots." he replied quickly.

"What?"

"What, what? You had a bottle of chardonnay on the counter here. I put it in there too. I mean, if you just leave out your alcohol, that's a pretty big loophole."

"Oh, right."

 _Maybe that's why I'm feeling uneasy. I hadn't considered any loopholes. Oh! That reminds me…_

With a couple short hops, she went to her refrigerator, opened it and pulled out a bottle. She returned to the locked cupboard and quickly placed the bottle on the floor to retrieve the key from her pocket. Much to her embarrassment, however, Nick snatched up the bottle before she could hide it away and read the label aloud, " 'Grass flavored vodka'. Really, Carrots?"

"I was curious!" Judy said defensively.

"Okay, sure," he said, returning the bottle.

"Whatever," she said in annoyance as she placed it with the others. "But you are sure this is all the alcohol you have? You didn't keep any did you?"

"Feel free to search my apartment if you want to be sure," he said nonchalantly before getting excited. "Oh! Hey! We can even make a 'thing' out of it. You could come over, I'll cook you dinner as you turn my apartment upside down and after I'm tuckered out from cooking and you're tuckered out from invading my privacy, we'll settle down on the couch and watch some cheesy movie or something."

"Hmmmm? Careful, Officer Wilde. That almost sounds like a romantic evening," Judy retorted with a sultry tone before she realized what she was saying.

 _Whoa, where did that come from?_

Hoping Nick hadn't heard the flirtation in her voice, she quickly coughed and corrected herself, "But yes. I do think I'll visit your place, just to be sure you're not hiding any liquor there."

As another thought occurred to her, she broke out into a smirk that could rival even Nick's smuggest grin and he clearly didn't care for it.

"Is it my turn to say 'what'?" he asked.

"I'll also be wanting your I.D.," she said, holding out her open paw.

She thought she had him outsmarted but surprisingly Nick just chuckled softly as he reached into his back pocket.

"You're getting a little too good at outwitting me, you know? Scary good, even," he said pulling a card from his wallet and handing it over. "Just so you know, I was going to give it to you anyway."

"Sure you were," Judy replied, heavily emphasizing her sarcasm as she looked down at the card. "Uh, Nick? I was actually thinking of your driver's license. I mean I'll obviously keep this too but-"

"I don't actually have one."

Judy raised an eyebrow incredulously.

"Do you honestly think I would have let Finnick drive us around for our scams if I had a license? He can barely see over the dashboard, Carrots."

"Well, you let me drive."

"Yeah, and I say a short prayer every time an animal crosses the road in front of us."

"As much as that sounds like you, I'm still having trouble believing you," Judy said, narrowing her eyes.

"Ask Bogo, he knows. Even told me I'm not allowed to drive the patrol car unless you're incapacitated. Or ask Clawhauser. Or Tammy. You know, the sugar glider down in records?"

"Okay, okay. I believe you, Nick. Or at least, I'll believe you until Clawhauser says otherwise when I ask him."

"It warms my heart to know we have such a trusting relationship."

Judy laughed genuinely at that and Nick soon joined her. She had to admit, it was a nice feeling, having this level of comfort back between her and Nick. She had allowed it to slowly disappear because the hopelessness in her heart from not being able to help Nick had turned into resentment of him and she supposed Nick had probably allowed it as well since it let him drink in peace.

 _I hope he's had a change of heart about that._

"I've missed this," she said contentedly.

"I have too, Carrots... I hope I don't make the mistake of letting this go again."

"You could just quit completely."

Nick sighed in frustration.

"I... I didn't want to tell you this, because I hate admitting it, but the thing is I've tried to, I have. Right after this all started, in fact. I set a goal to go without it for two whole weeks. I mean it's not 'cold turkey', but I thought if I could do that much, then cutting back to 'casual drinking' would be a piece of cake. Don't ask me why I failed, because I don't know, but I only made it a couple days before I found myself back at the bar, having gone through who knows how many Velvet Kilts and still going. I was so ashamed of myself, I nearly called you, to beg you to just forget everything and throw me in rehab, but I didn't."

"If you're worried about that Bogo might fire you-"

"I know he wouldn't."

"Then why?"

"When I got here, you told me that you know me, so you know how clever I am. Well, I know me too, Carrots. And I know that I'm a liar."

"Nick, I thought we were past this. You're more than just-"

"That doesn't mean I'm _not_ a sly fox. Don't get me wrong, Carrots. This has nothing to do with being a fox and everything to do with having twenty years experience as a con artist. _That_ is what makes me a liar, probably an even better one than you realize."

Judy had no answer for that. He had successfully tricked her, after all, and that scam had (technically) only required Nick to lie once. She had to assume that his previous cons required significantly more lying.

"After a couple weeks in rehab I would lie to get out. Not just for the alcohol, either. I would be willing to say just about anything to get out and be your partner again, but it would still be a lie. And you would believe it. And in a day or two I would be at the bar again. Then you would probably give up on me for real, not for the drinking, but for the lying-"

 _Okay, yes. I probably would at that point._

"-I wouldn't even blame you either! But the thought of that is even scarier to me than dying of liver failure," Nick let out another sad sigh. "So I'm not going to lie by telling you that rehab will work and I'm not going to lie by saying I'll go cold turkey. All I can honestly say is... that I don't think you're going to be able to fix me. The best you can probably hope for is to control me."

 _'Fix' you? 'Control' you? Oh, Nick. Is that how you see this?_

"That's awful."

"I'm probably making it sound worse than it actually is," Nick said with a smile, leaning back against the counter. "Truth is, even if I _could_ control myself, you would still be my first choice for the job."

She couldn't help but smile at that.

Searching for something to latch onto to keep the conversation going Judy asked, "Velvet Kilt?"

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Chapter Four is done! Yay. Sorry it's been so long since I've updated, I had some trouble reconciling Judy's character with being willing to go along with this plan once it was explained to her. Not an easy task. But we're here now and I think this chapter came out pretty good. Feel free to let me know of any errors and leave critique in the reviews. Again, I'm no pushover, so don't hold back!**


	5. Chapter V

**!MUST READ!**

 **Author's Note: !MUST READ!**

 **Let me start by thanking everyone who has followed, favorited, and especially those who have reviewed this story thus far. It really motivates me to keep going.**

 **I have gone back and edited some previous chapters. Most of the edits are just small things like fixing punctuation, spelling, and grammar or changing my word choice to make sentences snappier. However, there was a longer change back in Chapter 2 which I feel is important for the story later on. I've marked the beginning and end of the changes with this: #######. If you read that chapter before July 7th and haven't read it since, it's probably best you go back and at least read that section. Other than that, nothing too plot important has changed. I hope you all enjoy reading this next chapter!**

* * *

"Nick," Judy began, trying her hardest to remain calm and patient but immediately failing. "This drink is one hundred percent alcohol."

Taking the glass from his lips, Nick gave her a grin and replied, "A hundred? Naaaah. More like thirty, maybe thirty-five percent, tops."

"You know what I mean. The whole thing is liquor. There isn't even ice in it."

"Well, yeah. It's not a Velvet Kilt if you put ice in it. You cool it-"

"By mixing it in a chilled mixer and serving it in a chilled glass," Judy interrupted with what she hoped was a scathing Nick Wilde imitation, complete with smug grin.

Nick merely raised an eyebrow and said flatly, "I do not sound like that," before lifting his glass back to his lips and taking another sip.

"Well, I hope you enjoyed that, because as long as I'm making your drinks, you're not getting another," she said, crossing her arms with a huff.

It was an idle threat, she knew, especially considering Nick seemed like the kind of guy to frequently enjoy a scotch on the rocks anyway, but Judy hoped it would draw attention away from her plan to water down all his drinks by at least a fourth. It seemed to work, as Nick merely chuckled lightheartedly and ruffled the fur between her ears.

"You're the boss, Carrots."

Judy took comfort in the gesture for a moment, seeing it as another sign that their friendship was back on track, even if there was some slight deception underpinning it. Speaking of which…

"We need to talk about when I'm coming over to your place to check for alcohol," she said soberly.

She wasn't happy to talk about such a serious subject so soon after enjoying their friendly back-and-forth, but it was something that needed to be addressed and sooner was better than later. Strangely, it didn't seem to darken Nick's mood in the slightest.

* * *

 _Which should've immediately set off alarm bells in my head._

Judy realized with a pant as she stood up from the floor and wiped the sweat from her brow, the next afternoon.

Nick had quickly suggested that she come over as soon as possible and as fate would have it, they both had the next day off and apparently Nick had been entirely serious about his offer to cook her dinner after. Feeling slightly guilty about her first smart-mouthed reply to the gesture, Judy stopped at a liquor store on her way over and bought a mildly expensive blueberry wine. However, after her arrival and a short discussion, she felt significantly less guilty about it, since what she had originally thought would be a simple task of checking his fridge, cupboards and maybe his dresser if she wanted to be thorough, had suddenly become a herculean trial.

It turned out that Nick knew a great deal about addictive behaviour and insisted she check anywhere and everywhere a bottle of liquor might fit. So while he had indeed been sincere about the dinner, he had been even more serious about her being "tuckered out" afterwards.

Admittedly, she had not expected to find a flask of whiskey in the pocket of one of his jackets in the closet in the first five minutes of her search. When Judy told him, Nick merely shrugged, saying he had completely forgotten it was in there before returning to his cooking and though Judy had no reason to doubt him, it made it clear that yes, it was probably necessary to search everywhere.

The subsequent two and a half hour search didn't turn up any more hidden bottles or flasks, which gave her a little comfort since it proved Nick was trying his best to be honest with her. However, she _did_ find Lister-Rhino and rubbing alcohol under his bathroom sink. Choosing to give the fox the benefit of the doubt she scooped them up and put them on the table of Nick's dining/living room just as Nick exited the kitchen with a steaming dish in paw.

Seeing the two bottles, Nick raised an eyebrow, "You can _drink_ that stuff?"

 **Author's Note:**

 **Sorry about the short chapter this time, but I hope the update to the previous chapter would be enough to compensate for the length. Please leave reviews, it helps me hone my craft, even if you've already left one before. Any criticism is welcome! And thank you to those who have followed and faved and reviewed already! Look forward to more soon!**


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